


Safe

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Partners [19]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Feels, Fluff, Healing Emotional Scars, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 10:59:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15023117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: Why does everything always have to be a fight with you?With Steve, Danny can finally put his gloves down.





	Safe

"Seriously, Steve, I'm okay," Danny said, ignoring the sudden easing of the ache in his knee as he dropped onto the couch. "There’s no need to mother hen me. This isn't even as bad as it was last time, and I distinctly remember you not considering that incident worth fussing over."

"If I'd tried fussing over you back then, Mr. Matzo Ball Soup, you would have run for the hills." Steve smiled a little as he scooped Danny's leg up, pulling the coffee table closer with his free hand before setting Danny's leg down on it. Then he pressed a kiss against Danny's hair. "I didn't have the rights to you then that I do now."

As Steve headed into the kitchen, Danny's own lips curved upward a little. If it had been anyone else, Danny definitely _would_ have run for the hills – such an obvious sign of concern after so little time would have struck him as instantly suspicious. With Steve, though, his normal responses to things never quite worked the way they were supposed to. "Probably best you didn't risk it, then."

"I thought so." Steve came back from the kitchen with an ice pack, putting it on Danny’s knee as he sat down next to him.

He held it in place, a faint hint of pressure that was almost as soothing as the cold, and Danny leaned back and closed his eyes. “Thanks,” he murmured. “But you really don’t have to do this.”

“I like to.” Steve’s voice was soft, but when he spoke again it had that serious edge Danny didn’t like. “Are you sure you’re okay, though? You’re not complaining like you usually do.”

Danny opened one eye just to give him a “seriously?” look. “I was complaining about you mother henning me not even 30 seconds ago.”

Steve made an exasperated noise. “That was barely a mild protest. Generally, when you get hurt, or even mildly inconvenienced, you complain about it loudly to anyone within earshot for about 20 minutes. There’s even hand gestures.” He hesitated. “When something’s actually bad, though, you go quiet because you’re just trying to grit your teeth and get through it.”

That… was actually a completely accurate assessment, and if it was anyone else Danny would be unnerved they’d read him that easily. With Steve, though, Danny was relieved it was something he could easily reassure him about. “Believe me, there’s no teeth gritting here.” He patted Steve’s back as he closed his eyes again. “I just finally realized I don’t have to protect myself from you.”

The words slipped out so easily that Danny didn’t quite realize what he’d said until he felt Steve go still next to him. Then his brain did a quick review of everything that had just come out of his mouth, and _shit_ that came out a lot heavier than he’d meant it to. See? This was the kind of trouble emotional vulnerability got you into.

Wary, he opened his eyes to find Steve watching him with a careful expression. “You don’t have to explain it if you don’t want to,” he said quietly. “I understand not wanting to talk about stuff.”

Nothing Steve could have said would have been more persuasive. Danny sighed, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s stupid.”

He could hear the faint smile in Steve’s voice. “I’m okay with stupid.”

Danny turned his head so he could see the expression, along with the warm understanding in Steve’s eyes, and started trying to feel his way around the words he needed for something he’d never fully explained even to himself. “The funny thing about complaining is that, if you do it loud enough, nobody actually pays attention to how much you might really be hurting. They get so distracted by the complaining that’s all they really notice.”

He hadn’t even thought about it, really, until he’d been trying to explain his walls to Steve the night he’d read the letter. It was just instinct honed by years of repetition, almost as much muscle memory as anything he’d ever learned in the boxing ring.

But most of his instincts were about pushing people away, and he’d tear them all apart piece by piece before he’d let himself do that to Steve. “And when you yell loudly enough about something, no one notices anything else you might be feeling. All they can see is the anger.”

“Camouflage,” Steve said softly.

“Yeah.” Danny felt something inside him loosen he hadn’t even known had tensed up. “Never let ‘em see your weak spots.”

 _Why does everything always have to be a fight with you?_ Rachel had asked him that once, despairing, and Danny hadn't known how to explain to her then that _he_ wasn't the one who'd decided it was a fight. But when you knew people could die any second, no matter how old they were, and your dad fought fires and you had to keep your mom together no matter how much she cried, you ended up scared all the time. But he _couldn't_ be scared, because being short was enough of a problem and he had too much shit to do taking care of his family, and angry was so much easier than scared. More importantly, angry and loud could _hide_ the scared, when he couldn't figure out how to stop it. It could hide the fact that, even though he'd taught himself not to cry, he could never quite stop himself from wanting to.

But Steve... it was okay for Steve to know all that. Whenever he saw one of Danny's weak spots, it didn't change how he saw _Danny_. He just tried that much harder to protect him.

His hand found Steve's back again, chest tight with too much emotion. “But with you, I don’t have to hide anything. I don’t want to.” He swallowed. “You make me feel safe.”

He felt a brief stab of embarrassment – he’d been right about how stupid the words sounded when he said them out loud – but it faded when he realized Steve looked like he was about to burst into tears. Slowly, he shifted around completely, leaning forward and giving Danny a long, lingering kiss. “Thank you,” he murmured, voice rough with emotion. “I just… I’m really glad I know that.”

Danny’s eyes stung. “You should probably worry about how easy you are to please.” He tugged Steve forward until he was right next to Danny on the couch. Steve threw an arm over the back, careful not to jostle Danny’s injured knee at all, and Danny settled against him with the full-body sigh of a man finally at rest.

After a moment, his fingers threaded through Steve’s. “You know I meant emotionally safe, right? I still get shot at all the time.”

“You got shot at before I met you.” The smile in Steve’s voice made it clear he knew what Danny was trying to do. “Also, you do get paid for it.”

Danny smiled. “Not much. You’re more of a benefit than the paycheck.”

He felt Steve’s lips against his hair. “I’ll try to remember that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my [original fiction,](https://jennifferwardell.wixsite.com/mybooks) my [blog,](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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